Search

About a year ago I discovered the magic of the lamb shoulder chop. It is a complicated cut that requires a little bit of effort to eat, but not much to cook. There are alternating layers of tender meat and fat all surrounding a couple of bones. It isn’t as pretty as the rack of lamb, but it is incredibly flavorful and very inexpensive. It also cooks in under 10 minutes and there is something very satisfying about picking up the bone and picking off the last little chunks of meat.

Lamb holds up well to strong flavors. Tonight I did a marinade of cumin seeds, olive oil, lemon zest, salt, pepper and a bay leaf. I refrigerated the whole thing for about 6 hours and brought it to room temperature before cooking it in a very hot cast iron skillet for about 3 minutes on each side. While the meat rested, I made a quick salad of arugula and radishes, dressed with olive oil and lemon.

The lamb and salad are sitting one of the favorite side dishes in our house. The constantly evolving roasted curried cauliflower. This dish is a winner. It requires little attention and you can throw most any vegetable on into the mix. Tonight it was cauliflower, eggplant and tomatoes. Toss the whole mixture with olive oil, curry powder, salt, cumin seeds and red pepper flakes. Roast at 350 until golden. About 25 mins or so. You might want to give the tray a shake half way through. A welcome addition to this dish is the addition of fresh spinach, folded into the hot vegetables fresh out of the oven. The spinach wilts and adds a great velvety texture.

Email Subscription

Featured Posts

Nancy’s daughter and Leo’s aunt Ashley is expecting a little one this summer. This cake has a lot of firsts: my first stacked cake, my first time making fondant flowers, my first fondant covered Rice Krispie treat figures. The cake is based loosely on the nursery bedding – a charming quilted pattern of owls and […]

My birthday was almost a month ago. 30 days to celebrate turning 30. Every weekend for the past 4 weeks or so has had a portion of a day dedicated to celebrating with different friends and family, in Cayman and here in Philadelphia. Dinners, balloons and champagne. A gloriously massive chocolate cake with chocolate […]

This cake was for one of my favorite friends. The incredibly chic mom of the coolest kid in Philadelphia. Lemon Ricotta Cake with Lemon Curd and Vanilla Buttercream. The cake is based on Giada De Laurentiis’ Orange Ricotta Pound Cake.

I have a confession: I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars movies. I don’t really know why. We watched a lot of musicals in our house. Is that an explanation or just another strange confession? Couple that fact with the reality that this was my first large custom cookie order and I had a […]

This buttercream served as the filling and topping for the Obey Giant Cake post from earlier today. My Mom has been marching around my mind lately, in addition to adoring chickpeas, she love, love, loves chocolate malt balls. I should just call this recipe Lori’s Buttercream. The addition of crushed chocolate malt balls seals the […]